One more sleep

..before retreat day arrives. Tomorrow's the day.
I really do have alot to do, but it's fun stuff, like food
shopping, laundry, figuring out what to leave for my
husband to eat for four days, and packing.

I bought some of these cake takers at Wal Mart. Bonnie
at Quiltville told us about them and as much as I hate
WalMart I ventured in and bought all they had which was
only four. I figured that I would use two and sell the
other two to one of my friends. That's my brown and
beige Hunter's star in one and my indigo blue double
nine-patch in the other. Hopefully I can show you pics
of these tops when I get back on Tuesday.
Here's my retreat list. You can click on the picture to get
a larger view. I have had this list since my very first
retreat in 2000. I have added to it over the years and the
large pink stickie (with previous lists underneath) has this
retreat's projects.

All this look's like I'm organized but I'm really not. I
hope I can sleep tonight without thinking about all the
stuff I forgot to do or buy or pack or...

Until next time...
Susie

Retreat time!!!

Yes, three exclamation points!!!
I have decided that the anticipation, packing, and
planning for retreat is almost as fun as the retreat itself.

We arrive Friday at noon for our small, bee, fall retreat
at West River (which is conveniently only 40 minutes from
our town) and we will be sewing, laughing, eating, and
relaxing until Monday. (Notice I didn't mention sleeping).
(Someone once told me I write and speak very
parenthetically. (Don't you just love that word?
Say it out loud, par-en-the ti-cal-ly)).

So here are the beginnings of my piles on the dining room table.
The left pile of Royal blues is really an afterthought. I'll
save that for another blog post, post retreat. The pile
under the blueberry pie pin cushions is the Turning Twenty top (see right) that I put together last year at retreat and has hidden in the closet ever since. I will put the borders on. See the Jelly Roll that slid off the pile over there on the right? The page under it is Mary's directions for a cute box block quilt. Get her directions here. Then I have some asian fabrics that I will be making a wall hanging for my office. (I am sick of the
one that is up there now. That will be another blog
post later. (PS-I always say "Asian" instead of "Oriental"
because our daughter is Korean and she hates it when
people call her Oriental. She always corrects them to
say Asian instead).

So I'll prolong the anticipation (mine--not yours) and
post more packing piles tomorrow. Oh, but before I go
I want to show you what happens when my boys come
to visit.
They both had one eye on their lap tops and one eye on
the Redskins game. It was Matt's (left) birthday so all
my children were over for dinner. I was a happy Mom.
(That's Scott on the right).

Until next time...
Susie

Quilt Bingo

I'd better get this post in this week about our Quilt Bingo
we had last Sunday.
We made this quilt with Bingo fabric for Joe, the Bingo
caller, who donates his services. We presented it to him
before the fun began.
This is one end of the stage showing the prizes.
Here are the prizes at the other end.
Leslie and Margaret at the basket raffle table and in
front of the special prizes. Do you recognize the
Carolina Crossroads there on the left? The baskets were
so beautiful. We had an Italian themed one, a
scrapbookers delight, a relaxation one, a reading one
and more but I can't remember any more. They are a
very easy money maker because the guild members
donated most of the contents.

Elfrieda (sitting) and Amy (who designed this quilt) in
front of our 2009 raffle quilt. The theme for our show
and raffle next year is "Down by the Sea".
View from the front of the hall. Some of these ladies
are very serious about playing Bingo. We had a great
time and our guild made lots of money.

This weekend I will be organizing for retreat. I have
some decisions to make about what I will be taking
to work on. (I always take too much).

Until next time...
Susie

Full Quilting weekend

On Saturday I took a class (sponsored by our guild)
from Deb Tucker. She has come up with a really easy,
fun way to make Hunter's Star blocks and some
amazing ways to arrange them. Click here for her web
site. She is a great teacher and made the class fun.
Notice I have said fun alot (well two times). If you ever
get a chance to take one of ther classes I highly
recommend her.
Here she is holding one of her smaller pieces. That's my
friend Debi on the left. (We'll be going on retreat together
in a few weeks, in 11 days exactly-although Debi is going
this weekend too).

Anyway, Deb Tucker brought lots of her quilts for
inspiration and boy was I inspired. I love her tool and
plan on making more Hunter's Star quilts. I also thought
her Tucker Trimmer tool looked interesting too. One
thing at a time though-yeah right!

I had finished a few projects and was (was being the
key word here!) at a point to decide what to work on
next. Well, that is a dangerous place to be girls. I now
have at least five projects started. That means the fabric
is bought, washed, ironed, sorted and designated with
a pattern. Some are just in a pile, some are cut out,
some are half sewn and ...well that's enough huh?!!!
So I am amidst chaos and I am HAPPY!

Now I need your opinion. I really can't decide which layout
I like best for my brown and cream Hunter's Star . I only
have half the blocks sewn and they are just laid out
roughly on my design wall so please use your
imagination. Which one do you like best?
Version 1-traditional Hunter's star lay out.

Version 2-One of Deb's layouts. You can see completed
ones here on her web site.

Tomorrow I'll talk about our fabulous Quilt Bingo
we had yesterday.

Until next time...
Susie

Another surprise find!

So, back to my Aunt's linen closet.
After I found the 1843 quilt I pulled out a Montgomery
Wards box that had this crazy quilt in it. The maroon
velvet border was like new and the back was a beautiful
dusty pink polished cotton in perfect condition. After
a very brief inspection I didn't see any wear on the
front so I assumed it was a reproduction bought at
Montgomery Wards. I didn't make a big deal over it,
just put in my pile and hoped my cousins wouldn't
want to inspect it further. I was so excited over the
other quilt, I barely thought of this one. Crazy Quilts
aren't really my style and I thought this one was newer.
So I left it in the box for a few months. I got it out at
Christmas and draped it over an overstuffed chair.
My bee came over one night and one of the ladies
noticed it. We examined the squares and I saw some
of the silks were disintegrating. Hmmm that means
its older than I thought. Then my friend saw a date
embroidered on it, 1886. Well it was a reproduction,
so I guess they wanted it to look old. Then she saw
the surname Hanna embroidered. OMG...that is a
loud shout OMG. Hanna is my great grandmothers
maiden name. This quilt was made by my great
grandmother Rachel Belle Hanna McCleary (and probably
many of her friends) in 1886. She is the daughter of
Margaretta Virginia Loy Hanna who signed the 1843
quilt. So of course we examined every beautiful block.

I'll show close-up photos of this one and the other one
after I figure out how to get clear shots.

Until next time...
Susie